Millennium Announces Senior Executive Appointments --Expands Key Leadership Roles and Promotes Senior Leaders From Within--
3/14/2005 8:01:33 AM
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 14, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (MLNM) today announced the promotions of Anna Protopapas, senior vice president, corporate development and David Schenkein, M.D., senior vice president, clinical research. Additionally, the Company announced the expanded roles of Nancy Simonian, M.D., senior vice president, clinical, regulatory and medical affairs and Abbie Celniker, Ph.D., senior vice president, research and development strategy and operations, and pharmaceutical sciences.
"These appointments are part of the Company's commitment to operational excellence and to maximize opportunities to develop our people, the organization and the business," said Mark Levin, chief executive officer, Millennium. "As we focus our efforts on becoming a fully-integrated biopharmaceutical company, it is the talent of seasoned leaders such as these that will be instrumental in driving Millennium forward."
Anna Protopapas has been promoted to senior vice president, corporate development. Ms. Protopapas leads the Company's efforts in strategic alliances, product acquisitions, out-licensing and new ventures. During her tenure at Millennium, Ms. Protopapas has been a key driver in forging partnerships that have generated significant revenue and value for the Company, including collaborations with Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals Research and Development L.L.C., Aventis Pharmaceuticals and Abbott Laboratories. Under her leadership, Millennium has built a world-class business development team, responsible for forming many development-stage collaborations, including the recent alliances with GlaxoSmithKline and UCB Pharma. Ms. Protopapas will continue to be responsible for all corporate and business development activities. Her focus will be to deliver on corporate and business development goals by consummating high-level alliances that support the Company's path to profitability and long-term growth. She will continue to report to Mark Levin. She joined Millennium in 1997 with diverse experiences ranging from business development to international marketing and chemical manufacturing. Ms. Protopapas holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University, a master's degree in chemical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master's in business administration from Stanford University.
David Schenkein, M.D., has been promoted to senior vice president, clinical development. Dr. Schenkein led a clinical team that worked in collaboration across Millennium, with academia, advocacy groups and other external parties to gain FDA and EMEA approval for VELCADE(R) (bortezomib) for Injection, the first treatment to be approved for patients with multiple myeloma in more than a decade. He has also been pivotal in driving the strategy for exploring VELCADE(R) (bortezomib) for Injection in other indications. Similarly, he ensured the effective management of the Company's clinical development program for the oncology pipeline. In his new role, Dr. Schenkein will lead oncology, inflammation and cardiovascular clinical research efforts to develop novel therapies and direct the global medical affairs group in shaping the medical strategy for the Company. He will continue to report to Nancy Simonian, M.D. Prior to joining Millennium in 2001, Dr. Schenkein was director of the Cancer Center at Tufts-New England Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine, director of the Lymphoma Service and assistant dean of oncologic affairs. For more than 15 years he has been an academic investigator conducting numerous clinical trials for patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and other hematologic malignancies. Dr. Schenkein continues to practice hematology/oncology at Tufts-New England Medical Center as an associate professor of medicine. He graduated from Wesleyan University and received his medical degree at State University of New York Upstate Medical School in Syracuse.
Nancy Simonian, M.D., has an expanded role as senior vice president, clinical, regulatory and medical affairs. While at Millennium, Dr. Simonian has built a strong clinical development organization which effectively executes on a diverse pipeline of product candidates in the Company's oncology, inflammatory disease and cardiovascular disease focus areas. She was responsible for guiding the clinical development process for the approval of VELCADE. In her expanded role, Dr. Simonian will lead an integrated medical organization which consolidates all medical functions, including clinical development, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance and global medical affairs. She co-leads the Company's pipeline portfolio review committee and will direct a streamlined clinical drug development process through post-approval life- cycle. She will continue to report to Bob Tepper, M.D., president, research and development, Millennium. Prior to joining Millennium, Dr. Simonian was vice president of clinical research at Biogen Inc. She is an assistant clinical professor of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and at Harvard Medical School, and is board-certified in neurology. Dr. Simonian graduated from Princeton University and received her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School.
Abbie Celniker, Ph.D., has an expanded role as senior vice president, research and development strategy and operations, and pharmaceutical sciences. Dr. Celniker headed the biotherapeutics, and research and development strategy and operation functions at Millennium, taking on a number of leadership roles within the organization. In her current role, Dr. Celniker co-leads the pipeline portfolio review committee and heads development project management. In her expanded role, she will also oversee pharmaceutical sciences, which includes process, formulations, and analytical research and development as well as investigational quality assurance and supply operations. She will continue to report to Dr. Tepper. Dr. Celniker came to Millennium from the Genetic Institute division of Wyeth Ayerst Research, where she was assistant vice president for predevelopment and biopharmaceutical core technologies. She has previously held positions at Genentech Inc. and the University of Arizona Cancer Center. Dr. Celniker has a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of California at San Diego and earned her Ph.D. in molecular biology at the University of Arizona.
About The Company
Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, Mass., markets VELCADE, a novel cancer product, co- promotes INTEGRILIN(R) (eptifibatide) Injection, a market-leading cardiovascular product, and has a robust clinical development pipeline of product candidates. The Company's research, development and commercialization activities are focused in three therapeutic areas: oncology, cardiovascular, and inflammation. By applying its knowledge of the human genome, its understanding of disease mechanisms, and its industrialized drug discovery platform, the Company is seeking to develop breakthrough products. |
